it's the little things: easter edition

The Easter bunny dropped these off early for me to hang on to for my girls ;) Holidays are so much fun with kids! The downside is that I just ate 3 Cadbury Creme eggs in about 2 seconds flat...next time I'll ask the Easter Bunny to skip the candy, for my sake!

Chopped off several inches of hair. It feels good.

Easter Egg Hunt #1

Easter Egg Hunt #2

A night out with my BFFs. 17 years of friendship and a lifetime more.

And of course, the little thing that is really a BIG thing: the sleep training with Audrey is working! She slept through the night for the first time ever, this week! The next night didn't go quite as well, but things are improving in general and moving in a positive direction.

A mother relating to her child in the private intimacy of her home, with no audience but unseen angels, is the predominant influence for all that is good and decent in the world. ~ 

Night 4

Night 4 of Audrey's sleep training was a success! Waaaaahooooooo!

She went to bed at 6:30 pm in pajamas and a light sleep sack (no swaddle). Yes, this bedtime may seem early to some but she has clearly indicated that anything past 6:30 is too late. She woke at 11:45 pm to nurse, went back to sleep easily after that. Woke again at 2:30 and cried for about 5 minutes. I didn't go in to soothe her and she fell back asleep. Slept from 2:30 until 6:35 am.

Let me repeat that. She slept from 11 pm until 6:35 am, except for a 5 minute little complaint session at 2:30.  This is huge. I hope that night 5 goes as well!!

Which celebrity mom are you?

Well, I caught myself in a lie. I decided that talking about celebrities on this blog is a little bit fun.

Let's talk celebrity moms. Which one are you?

A quick google search shows that there are a zillion quizzes you can take to find out. Here are a few:
Lifetime , Babycenter , Baby Zone , Chicago Tribune , Ladies Home Journal

But since this is my blog, I'll make up my own. Here are a few celeb moms that come to mind. Which one do you relate to most, admire, or secretly envy a bit?

Jessica Alba- Hands on mom who always looks fashionable and put together, even for trips to the park.

Tina Fey- Funny, pretty, and Creator of a hit TV show, and she has a couple kids too, that she manages to keep out of the spotlight since I barely knew she had kids.

Miranda Kerr- Victoria's Secret model. Had an unmedicated birth of a 9+ lb baby, and posts pics of breastfeeding her baby on twitter.

Angelina Jolie- She is quirky for sure, but clearly has a heart for international adoptions and a large family (there are at least 2 kids missing from this pic). Surely the multiple nannies help, though?

Gwen Stefani- 2 little boys to wrestle with, but Gwen still always finds time to put on her red lipstick and stay looking like a star.

Jennifer Garner- Hands on mom, who seems to care less about Hollywood. She wears baggy jeans and running shoes and her kids look like they wear kids from Target but they have smiles from ear to ear.

Katie may have sold her soul to Scientology but you can't deny that Suri is absolutely adorable.

Brooklyn hipster Maggie Gylenhaal, nursing her baby at an outdoor cafe.

Big sister gift

A friend of mine recently had a 2nd baby. I sent a little gift for her older daughter, as a "big sister" gift. Just wanted to share how cute it is for anyone looking for special gift ideas. It's a sling for baby dolls, so that big sister (or brother) can "wear" her baby just like she sees her mommy do.

I let Juliet "test drive" the sling before I sent it. It was a hit. I am sure this would be an extremely easy home sewing project, but because I am altogether unhandy with a sewing machine, I bought it from Etsy (find it here). 
















I think it's a great way to normalize babywearing in our homes. I recently saw a photo of Jennifer Garner's daughter carrying a pretend infant car seat (as the family just recently welcomed a baby). Everything I have seen in the tabloids about this family suggests that Jennifer Garner is a *wonderful* mother, and I can't help but wonder if her little cutie pie Violet might enjoy snuggling her baby doll in a sling more than lugging around that heavy pretend car seat. ;) 

Update: never mind! See, I knew I loved Jennifer Garner. Here's a photo of her younger daughter carrying a baby sling! And that, my friends, is the extent of the celebrity gossip I will write about on this blog. Sorry for the invasion of privacy, Garner/Affleck family! Cute kids, though!

programming note

I am trying out the automatic ad placement that blogger.com provides. Just for kicks. If it's completely annoying, I'll remove it. Hope it doesn't bug anyone too much- it's just an experiment :)
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Moving on...

We are having a relatively peaceful Monday so far. I had a good workout with my Stroller Strides gals, and then afterward Juliet played with all the kids at the park. She is starting to really *play* with the other kids-- today, she gave one of the older kids an enthusiastic high-five after they all ran across the softball field together (lining up together, and repeating, "Ready! Set! Go!").

Audrey's sleep training sucks. Day 2 was just as miserable as Day 1. She cried for over an hour each time she woke up. I layed in bed the whole time and cried. Ugh. I'm still nursing her once at night (11 pm) but cutting out the 2 am and 4 am nursing sessions.  Don't worry, I'm not starving my baby. If you're a sleep training hater, I understand, but this is just what needs to happen for our family at this point. At 7 months +, she can make it from 11 pm til 6 am without nursing once she gets into the habit. But yeah, it pretty much sucks right now. Maybe Day 3 will be smoother.

it's the little things: sunday edition

This post is supposed to happen on Fridays, oops!

Anyway, it's the little things that happen during the week that make life so sweet. Here are a few scenes from the past week.

Eating broccoli from our garden!

Juliet and her shoes...an adorable obsession

Juliet even insisted that Audrey wear a pair of her shoes. Nothing cuter than a naked baby wearing enormous shoes.

6:00 am never looked so adorable! Sweet quiet morning with my baby while Gary and Juliet are asleep.

I married a man who loves his children and his dog with everything he's got. I'm lucky.

Picking up shells with Juliet on a blustery day at the beach.

Audrey's first trip to the beach!

A girl and her dog.

(This was a great week, but a tiring one. On an unrelated note, this will be the 2nd night of Audrey's "sleep training", so please wish us all luck. The whole house could use some rest.)